What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? NY
We have been in business 27 years and this past year has been tough for many of our clients which we have had to sue for collections or wait forever to get paid. One client who has been with us buying a monthly ad signed a contract for 12 months, agreed to have credit card charged 650. a month for the ad. Now, 10 months after the ad they claim that we fraudulently signed the contract. They accuse us of pasting a year old signature on the contract and they say they are in possession of an old contract that clearly backs them up. Here is the lowdown: We bill monthly and send a paid receipt to all charge clients. We also send full complete copies of the magazine showing their ad. We even FAXED them the paperwork yesterday that they are today saying is bogus. I asked why this took 10 months to call us and they replied "they advertise a lot of places and didn't notice!" Unfortunately I have only the current contract because once a contract is finished and paid for we do not save. My contention is that the person in charge of their ads dropped the ball and is covering himself by doctoring the paperwork. The owner of the company is threatening me with District Attorney, Police, etc. and has asked the credit card company to do a complete charge back of 10 months of ads. This is $6500. I called our credit card company and was told that because we did not swipe the card or get a monthly sign-off we are without recourse with the bank and am willing to allow the chargeback, although reluctantly. I was threatened by the client that they have lawyers on staff and he will be gunning for me. Taking into consideration what I feel happened, this could be flexing to make sure I do not come after the money. We work on a nice markup and while I hate to write off $6500 in sales, it translates to less than 1500 expenses. My collection person says that if we pursue the costs will be much greater than this because unlike our other collections there will be a counterclaim and trial necessary. I am a very small business who does not have good money to throw after bad. Being that the credit card co. has refunded this client's money, I do not know why they would pursue me, but I was intimidated by this episode and greatly upset. What scenarios could play out here? I have a pristine charge record w/credit card co. and bill over $25,000 a month this way for other clients with never a problem. What is your best advice and what might I expect worst case scenario (I can calculate the best!) Thank you
We have been in business 27 years and this past year has been tough for many of our clients which we have had to sue for collections or wait forever to get paid. One client who has been with us buying a monthly ad signed a contract for 12 months, agreed to have credit card charged 650. a month for the ad. Now, 10 months after the ad they claim that we fraudulently signed the contract. They accuse us of pasting a year old signature on the contract and they say they are in possession of an old contract that clearly backs them up. Here is the lowdown: We bill monthly and send a paid receipt to all charge clients. We also send full complete copies of the magazine showing their ad. We even FAXED them the paperwork yesterday that they are today saying is bogus. I asked why this took 10 months to call us and they replied "they advertise a lot of places and didn't notice!" Unfortunately I have only the current contract because once a contract is finished and paid for we do not save. My contention is that the person in charge of their ads dropped the ball and is covering himself by doctoring the paperwork. The owner of the company is threatening me with District Attorney, Police, etc. and has asked the credit card company to do a complete charge back of 10 months of ads. This is $6500. I called our credit card company and was told that because we did not swipe the card or get a monthly sign-off we are without recourse with the bank and am willing to allow the chargeback, although reluctantly. I was threatened by the client that they have lawyers on staff and he will be gunning for me. Taking into consideration what I feel happened, this could be flexing to make sure I do not come after the money. We work on a nice markup and while I hate to write off $6500 in sales, it translates to less than 1500 expenses. My collection person says that if we pursue the costs will be much greater than this because unlike our other collections there will be a counterclaim and trial necessary. I am a very small business who does not have good money to throw after bad. Being that the credit card co. has refunded this client's money, I do not know why they would pursue me, but I was intimidated by this episode and greatly upset. What scenarios could play out here? I have a pristine charge record w/credit card co. and bill over $25,000 a month this way for other clients with never a problem. What is your best advice and what might I expect worst case scenario (I can calculate the best!) Thank you
